Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the complainant’s children’s social worker. This is because we cannot investigate matters which have been considered in court, and cannot achieve the outcome the complainant wants.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Miss X, complains that her children’s social worker has been at fault in the management of her children’s care.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant @and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Miss X’s children are the subject of Care Orders and are in long-term foster care. Miss X is critical of the Council’s management of the case, and of the children’s social worker specifically. She made a formal complaint to the Council which was upheld in part.
8. It is Miss X’s aim to reestablish contact with her children, with a view to them returning to her care. She complains that the social worker has not helped her in this process and has failed to keep her properly informed about the children’s welfare. She wants the social worker removed from her children’s case.
9. The Ombudsman cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because the social worker’s actions relate to matters which have been considered in court. The Court has decided the children’s care arrangements and, by law, the Ombudsman cannot investigate them, or matters closely related to them. If Miss X is unhappy with the arrangements for care or contact, or believes the Council is failing to implement the Court’s wishes, she may take the matter back to the Court. There is no role for the Ombudsman.
10. It is also the case that investigation would not achieve what Miss X wants. It is for the Council to allocate work to its officers, and it is not for us to ask for a specific social worker to be replaced.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we cannot consider matters which have been considered in court and cannot achieve the outcome she wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman